


Kiss of Death

by glitteringconstellations



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, BAMF Hunk (Voltron), Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mental Illness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 21:57:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16292552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitteringconstellations/pseuds/glitteringconstellations
Summary: “You’re more useful to me alive than dead, for now,” it crooned. “Until then, you shall make for a most filling meal.” Fear like lead crawled through Hunk’s veins, rendering him powerless as the creature slithered around to face him again. This time, it cupped Hunk’s face with both hands, jagged nails digging into his temples. Hunk’s breath stuttered in his chest. The creature grinned even wider.“The weak are meat, and the strong do eat.”Hunk and Shiro are captured by a creature that feeds off of mental illness. With Shiro still recovering from his own brush with death, Hunk is determined to protect him, no matter the cost. He quickly learns that sometimes, the worst enemies are the ones that lie within.





	Kiss of Death

**Author's Note:**

  * For [comendobiscoito](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=comendobiscoito).



> HEY LOOK I'M BACK 8D A very, VERY belated commission from the incredibly patient [comendobiscoito](http://comendobiscoito.tumblr.com) over on tumblr. They've been an absolute saint waiting on my slow ass to finish, and even allowed me to write a different prompt when the first one proved to be too much of a challenge to feasibly finish. I went ahead and added to the length to make up for the delay. I hope this is everything you wanted, dearie~~ 
> 
> Also, the title is a reference to the musical Elisabeth, specifically a song called "[The Shadows Grow Yet Longer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpDnF72zHRg)", which is what I had on repeat while I wrote this. Death literally kills Rudolf with a kiss (just not in this scene). Seemed fitting, considering the work. Give it a listen!

“Don’t you touch him!”

Hunk felt the fear down to his very soul, felt it radiate out to the tips of his fingers and toes in a bone-rattling tremor. But he pushed past it as best he could, pulling himself up to unsteady feet. Puffing himself up to full height, he stood as a barrier between Shiro and the creature that held them captive. Its putrid stench made his stomach roil, a cold sweat dripping down between his shoulder blades at the sight of the wicked grin peeking out from beneath the shroud of its tattered hood.

“You are hardly in any position to make demands of me, Paladin,” the creature crooned. Nails on a chalkboard sounded downright melodic compared to this thing’s voice, Hunk thought miserably. Shiro’s labored breathing behind him bolstered him, though. He would not budge.

“I don’t care,” Hunk said, sounding a lot braver than he felt. “Whatever it is you want from him, you’re not getting it. Over my dead body.” If his voice shook, well… he couldn’t help it.

The creature matched his posture, drawing itself up to tower a good foot and a half over Hunk. A whimper escaped him, his eyes flickering down to where the creature’s feet should have been. Instead, the inky black of the gossamer robes it wore fluttered over the damp earth of the cell floor. He still couldn’t see its face; only the crooked, yellowed teeth in its menacing smile.

“That can be arranged, you know. And then who would protect your dear friend here, hmm?” It drew a step closer, the robes billowing around its form though Hunk saw no legs moving. He recoiled a step back, but there wasn’t anywhere else he could go. Not without stepping on Shiro. The tiny cell barely afforded him room to stand upright.

In a blink, the creature stood before him, its head bent so low and close that Hunk felts its every breath puff against his face. The breath reeked of death, and if weren’t for the fact that Hunk was paralyzed with fear, he might have gagged. Long and spindly fingers, darkened by frostbite and flesh rot, came up to caress his face, the touch so frigid it nearly burned.

“Your fright… it is so delicious.”

The creature inhaled, a deep and satisfied sigh ghosting over Hunk’s face. It was sick how much pleasure it clearly drew from this. Hunk couldn’t draw his terrified gaze from the cracked, splintered lips as it spoke. It tilted its head, as though looking beyond Hunk.

“But your friend here… he has some history, no? The aroma of trauma on him is strong. So exquisite. I wonder what it would take to make that trauma even more potent.”

The mere thought sent a jolt of cold panic coursing through Hunk. The agony in Shiro’s pained shout as he was struck in the head still rang in Hunk’s ears as deafeningly loud as the thrumming of his heart. The image of his leader collapsing before him was still burned on his eyelids. Even now, Shiro keened weakly at the slightest movement.

“Don’t!” Hunk blurted out. “Don’t you dare!”

“I dare,” cackled the creature. “Let’s see you try and stop me.”

Hunk found himself moving before he even realized he’d lifted an arm. Their bayards were lost to the battlefield, but he could still throw a mean punch. For all it was worth, though, his fist passed through the creature harmlessly, as though through smoke. Hunk yelped in surprise as the creature dissipated into a hazy mist, swiveling around on his heel. His eyes darted around fruitlessly seeking some shape in the sudden dark.

“How precious,” whispered a voice in his ear.

The vindictively gleeful sound was close, so close, as the creature reappeared directly behind Hunk. Frigid fingers danced along the back of his neck and Hunk went ramrod straight with a frightened cry, goosebumps rising along every inch of exposed flesh.

“You’re more useful to me alive than dead, for now,” it crooned. “Until then, you shall make for a most filling meal.” Fear like lead crawled through Hunk’s veins, rendering him powerless as the creature slithered around to face him again. This time, it cupped Hunk’s face with both hands, jagged nails digging into his temples. Hunk’s breath stuttered in his chest. The creature grinned even wider.

“The weak are meat, and the strong do eat.”

A cold pulse started from where the creature’s hands gripped him, the pulse growing colder and stronger with each passing second. Hunk’s vision blurred as his heart picked up impossibly, his chest so tight that he had to fight for every breath.

“Don’t,” he whimpered. “Please.”

Tears streamed down his face as the pulse grew only stronger. His stomach churned dangerously, bile swimming somewhere in the back of his throat. The panic soared through the roof as the creature bent down, almost as though to kiss him. It stopped only a hair’s breadth from his face; when it inhaled, Hunk felt as though the breath, the very life was being sucked from him.

_Oh god don’t please don’t I’m going to die I don’t want to die stop stop make it stop make it stop—_

As quickly as it all began, it stopped. The creature released its grip from Hunk, who fell bonelessly to his knees. A pleased hum escaped it as it stood back, as though to take in its handiwork.

“The strong do eat, indeed,” it said. “I shall be back. Enjoy your brief reprieve while you can.”

And then it was gone, nary a sound as it retreated from the cell, leaving Hunk and Shiro there in the murky darkness.

Less than thirty seconds later, Hunk forcibly expelled the contents of his stomach, crawling on his hands and knees to the corner farthest away from Shiro and only just making it in time. It was by sheer willpower alone that he didn’t pass out, though it was close. The room spun, dizziness only worsening his nausea as he heaved for air.

How long he kneeled there over his pile of sick, Hunk didn’t know. Time seemed to simultaneously stretch on and flash by in an instant. When at last he felt that he could move without losing more of his stomach, he finally managed to drag himself back over to Shiro, still laying prone across the cell.

Shiro groaned as Hunk moved to examine the head wound. It was a tremendous struggle—his hands trembled and buzzed as though he’d touched a live socket. Shiro’s eyes were cloudy and unfocused, and blood matted the dark hair at the back of Shiro’s head. A gasp hissed through clenched teeth as Hunk’s fingers pressed against a tender spot.

“Sorry,” Hunk murmured, maneuvering Shiro so that he lay across his lap.

Shiro shook his head minutely, grimacing. “’S okay. You alright?”

No, thought Hunk. He was the furthest thing from alright. He’d just had the worst panic attack of his life. “I’m fine,” he said instead. “You just rest. The others will find us soon.”

“Hunk…”

Hunk hushed him. Dread still swam in the back of his mind, and he shuttered down thoughts of fear and doubt that tried to worm their way to the forefront. “It’ll be alright. Rest now, Shiro.”

He believed that. He had to believe that it would be okay, that the others would come and put an end to that disgusting creature. Shiro would be okay, and he would be okay.

Still, when Shiro fell into a fitful sleep, Hunk couldn’t help but hang his head and weep.  
  


* * *

_  
“The others aren’t coming.”_

_Shiro lay on the ground, bloodied and limp. The smell of copper and acrid smoke singed Hunk’s nostrils._

_“Shiro will die and it will be all your fault.”_

_Glassy and sightless eyes bored into Hunk. His chest did not rise and fall._

_“No one will save you.”_

Hunk jerked awake with a start. His neck and back ached from sleeping upright against the wall, and Hunk blinked through the darkness trying to gain his bearings. When had he fallen asleep? Shiro stirred in his lap with a moan.

The smell of rot and bile reached him before the voice did.

“Rise and shine, Paladins.”

Hunk stiffened. The creature was back. A fresh wave of fear swept over him, but he looked up into the shrouded face defiantly, hunching over Shiro protectively. He said nothing, but still the creature laughed.

“Did you sleep well? You looked rather cozy. Slept right on through the night, you did.”

Hunk didn’t deign that with a response, though he couldn’t repress the shiver that coursed through him from head to toe. That thing had been watching them the whole time? For what? Waiting for the opportunity to strike while they were vulnerable? Hunk cursed internally. He shouldn’t have let his guard down.

It wouldn’t happen again. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t have Shiro. Of that, he would make sure. Even if he couldn’t fight back the way his heart picked up on sight of it.

 _The others will come_ , he thought, desperately. _They’re looking for us now. They have to come._

Seeing no more use for words, the creature stepped forward again, gnarled hands outstretched and reaching for Hunk’s face. But a hand swatted out, and though it did little of actual consequence, it did make the creature pause.

“Oho, what’s this?”

Shiro struggled in Hunk’s arms, trying to push himself upright with his remaining arm.

“Shiro, stop,” Hunk urged, panic rising quickly in his throat. He put a steady hand down on Shiro’s shoulder, trying to make him lie back down. “Shiro, what are you doing?”

“Take me instead,” Shiro rasped. “Whatever you need. Take it. Just leave him alone.”

“No!” Hunk choked, voice high and strained. No, no, nonononono, this could not be happening. “Stop, Shiro, just stop!” He had to protect Shiro. Shiro was still weak from being trapped in the Black Lion, his body still recovering from nearly dying at the hands of Haggar’s magic.

Another terrifying cackle sent more ice down Hunk’s spine. “How noble! Trying to sacrifice yourselves for each other.” The grin it shot them was downright sinister. “It shall make my meal all the more delectable when I break you both.”

Its hand shot out again, and Hunk only had the upper hand of reflex because of Shiro’s weakened state. He tucked Shiro’s head against his shoulder and curled himself tighter around his wounded leader. He was Voltron’s shield, a pillar of support. If he couldn’t even protect Shiro, what good was he?

The hand gripped him by the chin, hard, nails digging into the soft flesh of his cheeks so hard he felt blood dripping in thin rivulets down his face. The pulse was immediate, and Hunk gasped as thoughts he could not control flooded his brain.

_They’re not coming. You’re alone. No one is coming to save you. You’ve failed. Shiro is going to die. You’re going to die._

Shiro shuddered beneath him, a startled cry turning into a long moan of pain. Hunk felt the hammering of Shiro’s heart mirroring that of his own, and Shiro’s hand reached blindly out for his, squeezing it so tight he felt his hand might break. Hunk squeezed back, the pain grounding amidst the overwhelming feeling of _everything_ bearing down on him, all at once. Cold sweat dripped down his brow and Hunk began to rock both him and Shiro almost compulsively.

Tears muddled his vision and stung the cuts on his cheeks when the creature wrested his chin up and leaned in for its demented version of a kiss. Again it stopped just shy of actually kissing him, drawing in an deep breath that pulled at Hunk down to his very core. It seemed to last longer this time, and with every passing moment the panic bent him further, and further, until he thought he could bend no more and would eventually break.

It was too much. The fear, the panic, and the pain—it was all too much. He just wanted it to stop.

When it did at last stop, he gasped for air like a drowning man. A high-pitched ringing in his ears drowned out Shiro calling his name, and he nearly dropped Shiro in his haste to scoot back on his rump, twisting only just in time to keep from vomiting down his front.

The creature didn’t even taunt him this time. It merely cackled at the spectacle, its hunger for misery apparently satiated, and it left them alone again. Hunk could not stop the tears as he retched, dry heaving when there was nothing left to expel. A shaking hand came to rest on his shoulder and he flinched before he realised it was just Shiro.

Shiro, who somehow managed to find the strength to sit up all on his own. Shiro, who’d endured so much, only to find more suffering at every turn. Hunk cursed his own weakness. Shiro was stronger than he’d ever be.

“Do you… do you feel that way all the time?” Shiro asked, his voice smaller than Hunk had ever heard it. Hunk wiped away the remnants of bile from his lips on the back of his hand, wishing the sour taste in his mouth would go away. The concerned look pinched Shiro’s brows together, and Hunk felt even worse.

“You felt that?” Shiro tilted his chin in a slight nod, and Hunk’s stomach dropped. He made a mental note to not be near Shiro the next time that thing came in.

His heart lurched unpleasantly at the idea that there was almost certainly a next time.

Hunk sighed when Shiro continued rubbing comforting circles on his shoulder, leaning into the touch despite himself. “It’s not always that bad,” he confessed. “I think… I think that thing does something to make it worse. But yeah. It’s a constant struggle.”

“I’m sorry,” Shiro said quietly, his hand stilling on Hunk’s shoulder. “I never realised.”

Hunk shook his head. “It’s not your problem. You’ve got enough on your plate to worry about without me being a nervous wreck adding to it.” And besides, he thought, his only issue was the anxiety. If the creature could magnify his stupid panic attacks to the extent that it did, there was no telling what it would do to Shiro with all the horrors he’d lived through. Hunk shuddered to think of the consequences.

“Hunk, that’s not true,” Shiro said. “It’s not your burden alone to bear. When we get back to the others, we’ll talk with them and see about how we can work with you to manage it better.”

“If we get back,” Hunk corrected automatically. His anxious thoughts still echoed through his brain, try though he might to bat them back. _They’re not coming. They’re not coming, and you’re not getting out of here alive._

“When we get back,” Shiro insisted. “You said it yourself. The others will come. It’ll be alright.”

Hunk wanted to believe him. His hesitation must have shown on his face, because Shiro pulled him in for a one-armed hug.

“It’ll be alright,” he repeated softly. “We just gotta hang in until they come.”

He really wanted to believe that.  
  


* * *

  
The others weren’t coming.

Hunk knew very little anymore, but he knew this much. With every feeding, Shiro insisted on trying to take the fall, but Hunk wouldn’t hear it. Eventually, the creature ignored Shiro entirely, and for that Hunk was grateful, at least. Shiro learned quickly not to touch Hunk after that second feeding.

“Please don’t touch me,” Hunk had gasped, recoiling away from Shiro’s touch as the creature tightened its grip around his throat. “D-don’t, it makes it worse, please—”

“Okay,” Shiro nearly wept. “I won’t. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Hunk, you don’t have to do this—”

The creature kept on feeding from Hunk. Days, weeks, months, he didn’t know. They weren’t fed, were barely given enough water to stay alive. Hunk lost track of the time, only measured the passing of it by the number of times the creature came.

They weren’t coming. They were all alone. Hunk was all alone.

“Are you beginning to see now, little Paladin?” the creature sang into his ears. “See the pain you are causing your friend here? You think you’re protecting him, but you’re hurting him so.”

Exhaustion pulled at every bone in Hunk’s body, but his head lolled just enough to look over at Shiro. His heart sank at the look of helpless anguish on Shiro’s face as he murmured encouragements, his fingers drumming on his thigh as he itched to reach out and hold Hunk. Shiro hated being helpless.

“Don’t give up, Hunk. It’ll be okay, the others will find us soon. They’re coming. Just hold on…”

Hunk wanted to believe him, but he couldn’t. He knew the others wouldn’t come. They would have come by now, if they could. It didn’t take much to imagine what fate had befallen them. The image of his friends—no, his family—broken, bleeding, mangled, _dead_ , was enough to send him into a new fit of hyperventilating.

He was so _tired_. He had absolutely no strength left from the barrage of panic and vomiting and crying heaving tears until he wore himself into a restless slumber that gave him little comfort, not when the nightmares followed him to the other side. He was so tired he could die there, if it didn’t mean leaving Shiro on his own. But it didn’t matter. He and Shiro were alone. The others weren’t coming, and they were going to die there. He’d doomed the universe.

“Oh, yes, this is good,” the creature said. It clapped its hands most gleefully, one bony hand the only thing keeping Hunk’s chin from dropping down on his chest. “I quite think I’ve picked you to the bone. Perhaps just one last meal out of you.” It snickered as it dropped into its usual feeding position, but instead of lining its face up to Hunk’s, it moved in closer still, until its mouth nearly rested on the shell of his ear.

“I really must thank you for your heroic sacrifice, Paladin,” it breathed giddily. “Your friend will only be able to watch in horror as I drain the life from you. He’s been marinating in your misery. I will savor the meal I get from him. I’ve been salivating after it all this time.”

Hunk’s heart picked up—where the energy came from for it to pound faster than ever was beyond him—as the creature lifted a free hand to its hood. Shiro cried out to him, struggling to rise from where he’d slumped against the opposite wall.

“ _No!!_ Hunk, no!”

 _Oh,_ he thought distantly, his breath coming in staggered gasps. _Oh, it’s going to kill me._ His heart pounded harder still, so hard it might beat right out of its chest. He might actually die of fright right here on the soiled cell floor.

Before the creature had the chance to lower its hood, though, a shot of bright blue light pierced the darkness of the cell. It soared through the air in an arc, and unlike when Hunk had tried to punch it, it actually struck true.

The creature loosed a furious shriek, wheeling around to face its intruder. Through his own shuddering sobs—when had he started crying? He didn’t think he had any tears left to shed—he heard a familiar voice.

“You picked the _wrong_ people to kidnap,” Lance growled, his voice rumbling low in his throat. Hunk had never heard his friend this angry before. “ _Come mi mierda_ , fuckface.”

The cell exploded into chaos, then.

Hunk couldn’t tell up from down in the thick of it, the thrall of the creature’s magic so deeply rooted in him. His breathing still came in sporadic bursts, fire seizing his lungs in an iron grip from the lack of air. Thoughts raced indiscernable through his brain so fast it sent the room spinning around him. He felt as though he were sinking, deeper and deeper as though the ground were swallowing him whole, and at the same time as though he were floating, lost adrift in a sea of panic and fear and pain. Darkness edged in his vision, tunneling his already tear-blurred sight to mere watery pinpricks. The ringing in his ears grew to a deafening cacophony and he lifted leaden hands to claw desperately at his ears.

“Stop, stop, stop,” he moaned. Everything was too loud. His chest hurt. His hands hurt. His head hurt.

“Hunk!”

It was all too loud. Too much, too much, make it stop, make it _stop_ —

“ _Hunk_!”

Desperate hands grabbed him by both shoulders and shook.

“Hunk, please, calm down. Breathe for me, buddy, you’re going to pass out—”

Desperate for air, Hunk drew in as deep a breath as he could muster, forcing the breath past his lips. Encouraging murmurs followed and he did it again, and again.

“That’s it, buddy, you’re doing great. Another breath, that’s it…”

Slowly, so so slowly, the panic subsided enough for Hunk to breathe easy, see straight. His vision swam into focus, a very frightened-looking Lance kneeling before him. Behind Lance, Pidge and Allura tended to the wounded Shiro, while Keith stood scowling over the corpse of the creature that had tormented him.

“Hey, hey, hey, look at me.” Lance patted Hunk’s face when the sight of the creature nearly sent him hyperventilating again. “You’re alright, Hunk. We’re here. It’s all going to be alright. That… that _thing_ isn’t going to hurt you anymore.” His eyes were bright with unshed tears of his own.

“I’m so sorry we’re so late,” Lance continued, thumbs rubbing over Hunk’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry. But it’s going to be alright now. I promise. We’re getting you out of here, okay? It’ll be okay.”

Hunk let those words bounce around his skull for a long moment. The more Lance repeated it, the louder they got, drowning out the panic, drowning out the fear.

“I… I’ll be okay,” he whimpered. Lance mustered up a watery smile.

“You’ll be okay,” Lance repeated firmly. “You’re going to be alright.”

And this time, Hunk believed it.


End file.
